Jaguar XE SV Project 8 smashes Nurburgring fastest lap record

Jaguar XE SV Project 8 has just become the world’s fastest four-door car. 

It clinched the title after completing a blistering lap of the Nurburgring in 7 minutes 21.23 seconds. 

This makes it a whopping 11 seconds quicker than the previous fastest sedan around the 12.9-mile track and faster than a number of two-door coupes and supercars. 

Mark Stanton, SVO Director, said: “The SVO design and engineering team’s mission was to create the most track-focused road-legal Jaguar in history – not only the fastest, but also the most agile. 

“As a result, only the roof and front door skins of Project 8’s body are carried-over unaltered from XE and 75per cent of its mechanical hardware is new. 

“This astonishing Nürburgring Nordschleife record validates the success of such extensive changes.”

John Edwards, Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations Managing Director, added: “SVO exists to push the boundaries of performance, luxury and all-terrain capability. 

“The hand-assembled XESV Project 8 takes that principle to the limit, extracting supercar-beating performance from Jaguar’s most compact four-door sedan. 

“The Nürburgring Nordschleife record underlines our commitment to deliver the most extreme Jaguar ever to Project 8 clients, who will soon experience this sensational sedan for themselves.”

The Project 8 is the most powerful Jaguar road car ever and the first road-legal version with a 600PS 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine. 

This powertrain allows it to sprint from 0-60mph in just 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 200mph. 

It is made from lightweight materials inclining aluminium and carbon fibre exterior panels to improve performance. 

Project 8 is also the first Jaguar car to use its new Carbon Ceramic Braking system . 

Just 300 examples of the car will be hand-built at Jaguar’s new £20million SVO Technical Centre in Warwickshire, UK. 

Prices for the car start at £149,995 in the UK.